Spanish rivals prepare to square off

Valencia CF coach Unai Emery expects another testing encounter against Spanish rivals Club Atlético de Madrid in the quarter-finals after seeing off Werder Bremen on the away-goals rule on Thursday.

Emery's side drew 4-4 with Bremen in a thrilling second leg at the Weserstadion and the coach knows Valencia's task will not get any easier against Atlético. "It will be a very balanced tie, like the one we played against Werder Bremen," he said.

"It's unfortunate two Spanish teams have to face each other in the quarter-finals, but at least it ensures that a Liga representative will be in semi-finals. Atlético are proving themselves to be a good team and we'll have to work hard to get through."

Atlético are unbeaten in their past six matches following Thursday's 2-2 draw at Sporting Clube de Portugal and that sequence includes an impressive 4-1 win against Valencia on 28 February, a result which Atlético sporting director Jesús García Pitarch believes bodes well for his side.

"Valencia represent a very difficult rival for us especially as they have some exceptional attacking players," he said. "We would have preferred to have faced them at a later stage in the competition seeing as they are a Spanish team and one of the tournament favourites.

"However, Atlético are showing they too are one of the big sides and we demonstrated that this season with – among other results – victory over Valencia at the Vicente Calderón and a draw at the Mestalla [in September]."

Valencia have fared well against Spanish sides in European competition over two legs, winning all four of their ties including the 1999/2000 UEFA Champions League semi-final win against FC Barcelona. Their biggest game of all against Spanish opposition in Europe, however, ended in disappointment as they went on to lose to Real Madrid CF 3-0 in the final that year.

Atlético have played Spanish opposition seven times in European club competition, winning three and losing four. Their most famous meeting with Spanish opponents came in the semi-final of the 1958/59 European Champion Clubs' Cup when they were beaten by rivals Real Madrid CF in a play-off after the two sides had emerged level at 2-2 after two legs.